In the majority of laundry room or utility room situations found both in residential use as well as those in commercial use, the washer and dryer appliances are situated with their respective back surfaces facing a dwelling wall. In most circumstances, the various connections and couplings made to the washer and dryer appliances, such as those for electrical, gas, water or ventilation, make their respective connections at the back surface of the appliance. As a result, the typical washer or dryer appliance is not usually found with its back surface against the nearby dwelling wall, but is generally required to be spaced from the dwelling wall a sufficient distance to permit clearance between the various connections and couplings to the machine. In addition, laundry or utility rooms frequently have one or more sets of pipes extending across the wall surface which further precludes the positioning of the washer or dryer appliance tightly against the wall. As a result, in the typical washer or dryer arrangement there exists a space of approximately 6 to 10 inches between the rear surface of the washer or dryer appliance and the closest dwelling wall.
In use, a problem frequently arises in that objects being places within, removed from or collected on top of the washer and dryer appliances often fall behind the appliance due to the above-described spacing between its rear surface and the wall. Because washer and dryer appliances are extremely heavy and therefore difficult to move, they may not be readily pulled from the wall to permit retrieval of these articles or objects without considerable effort and inconvenience. In addition, the typical utility room or laundry room environment often includes overhead cabinets, shelves or the like which further exaserbate the problem of retrieving such objects by making it even more difficult to gain access to the space between the appliance and the dwelling wall.
In addition to the problems of objects being inadvertantly dropped behind the washer or dryer appliance during the transfer of clothing articles and the like to and from the appliance, the typical washer or dryer is designed with a raised control panel at the rear of the machine which in turn often defines a small flat upper surface. This small upper surface often becomes a convenient surface upon which to place various articles associated with the laundering process or otherwise related to it, such as material removed from garmet pockets and so on. Such articles placed upon this rear upper surface also tend to be inadvertently knocked bacwardly and fall into the spacing between the rear of the washer or dryer and the dwelling wall.
There arises therefore a need in the art for a convenient system for retrieving such articles which inadvertently fall between the washer or dryer appliance and the adjacent wall surface.